# My First Wineador (New Air AW-180E)



## bleslie34 (Aug 1, 2013)

New to the cigar hobby, but since buying my first cigar humidor early last year I have found my hobby growing faster then my humidor can accommodate. So no thanks to everyone in this forum I quickly was fascinated with the idea of doing a wineador build. 
Thought I would share my current state and the steps I have gone through so far.

Step 1: The wine cooler I decided to go with the NewAir AW-180E for my build, for one the price point and second to hopefully curb what I could foresee a desire to rapidly fill a 28 count cooler. So for my wallet and marriage sake I went with the 18 bottle cooler.









Step 2: I made the decision to go with ordering drawers from Forrest. Couldn't resist how awesome his work looks on all of the different posts in this forum, a little pricey but I think well worth it. Have not seen a bad comment on the guy yet. So those are on order and have been eagerly waiting for almost 3 months now. Patience has not always been my best quality.

Step 3: Started to get the accessories that I wanted to go along with the build. I got the following:
- Heartfelt beads 65%, and a couple mesh bags that I picked up from the pet store







- Small 12v computer fan for air circulation. I used a old cell phone charger to wire up the fan. Was also able to fish the wire through the drain hole successfully. I have seen a lot of people have drilled a hole through the back of the cooler to run their wire so I was glad to not have to do that. I then just sealed off the drain hole on the back of the cooler with a hot glue gun.














- Jar of Activated charcoal to rid the cooler of the plastic smell. Got this at a pet store too, but have seen the same stuff for cheaper at Wal-Mart. Really did the trick I washed the insides out numerous times, aired it outside for days, and still couldn't get rid of the smell until I got the charcoal. Put a little in 3 different dishes put it in the cooler and let it run for a little over a week and problem solved.







- Decided to go with 2 Caliber IV hygrometers for monitoring my sticks. Already have one of these for my desktop humi and it works great. Highly recommend.







- I then got a timer to plug my fan in to that is set to turn on every 3 hours for 15 minutes to help with circulation.

Step 4: I was just going to wait for drawers to arrive and be done with it. But waiting I got a little anxious and decided to add one more thing to the Wineador. So I ordered some sheets of 3/8" Spanish Cedar to line Back, Bottom, and Top of the inside of the cooler. A little extra work but overall was pretty happy with how it turned out. Something new that I hadn't seen.


























Again now I am just waiting for my drawers to arrive from Forrest so that I can finish off my build and give my sticks a new home. Hopefully this helps some other newbie or anyone with their wineador build. 
Will post more pictures once the drawers arrive.

Thanks,


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## Carpenter69 (Mar 5, 2013)

Could have your address.lol. Where'd you get the tatuaje sticker?


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## brimy623 (May 25, 2013)

Nice!
I really like the lining of the top, back & bottom with the cedar (borrow this idea for my unit maybe?!?!:eyebrows


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## bleslie34 (Aug 1, 2013)

The Tatuaje sticker was a little government work at my job. It is a vinyl printer that can make just about any image. 
I looked everywhere trying to find stickers with no luck.


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## Horsefeathers (Jul 26, 2013)

I'm looking to do this myself. Really nice concise post with what your build is like! Make sure to post up some pictures when your drawers come in.


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## Bloodwood (Sep 21, 2013)

Very cool man. I like the idea of lining the wineador with the cedar. I am patiently waiting on my drawers as well. You take the cake though. i have only been waiting 8 weeks as of today. Cant wait to see the finish to your build.


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## sjcruiser36 (Dec 20, 2012)

Nice look with lining the top, rear and bottom with SC. When did you guys order your drawers? I ordered mine around October 23, or so.


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## Bloodwood (Sep 21, 2013)

sjcruiser36 said:


> Nice look with lining the top, rear and bottom with SC. When did you guys order your drawers? I ordered mine around October 23, or so.


I ordered mine 9-5-13 (no rush) and got confirmation yesterday of my drawers being shipped out. I cant wait to see the drawers.


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## sjcruiser36 (Dec 20, 2012)

Bloodwood said:


> I ordered mine 9-5-13 (no rush) and got confirmation yesterday of my drawers being shipped out. I cant wait to see the drawers.


Thanks, I didn't do rush ordering either, so it looks like he's shipping out at 8 weeks instead of 5.


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## bleslie34 (Aug 1, 2013)

I ordered mine on 8/20/2013. No rush, and have t heard anything yet. Maybe I should follow up with Forrest to make sure he still has my order????


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## Incognito11 (Jul 18, 2013)

Looks awesome man!
This looks like exactly the type of build i plan on doing (hopefully) very soon.

A couple questions if you don't mind?

Where did you pick up the 18 bottle new air from? That seems to fit my sizing perfectly and haven't seen many of the 18 bottle layout (also wondering price point if you don't mind)

Also, the lined cedar looks awesome! I was toying with the idea of lining with cedar but my big road block has been... how to attach it? I wasn't sure about using something like a glue or possibly going a velcro type route?

Gorgeous build man!


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## tosis (Aug 14, 2013)

Incognito11 said:


> Also, the lined cedar looks awesome! I was toying with the idea of lining with cedar but my big road block has been... how to attach it? I wasn't sure about using something like a glue or possibly going a velcro type route?


I was also wondering this.

Awesome build btw. Looking forward to seeing it with filled up.


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## bleslie34 (Aug 1, 2013)

Incognito11 said:


> Also, the lined cedar looks awesome! I was toying with the idea of lining with cedar but my big road block has been... how to attach it? I wasn't sure about using something like a glue or possibly going a velcro type route?


I used a silicon that is used for fish tanks. A little bit of a smell but it is gone in 48 hours. The main reason for the silicon is that that the SC was only 3/8" thick and fluctuations in the humidity is going to make it warp (potato chip). So by using the silicon i made sure to get the corners stuck down well and then put some resistance against all of the lining at my desired RH for 3 days. Haven't had any issues so far. The only other thing that may help, if you go the silicon route, is if you scuff up the plastic liner of the cooler before adhering the SC strips would probably make it hold better. But I wanted to try without doing that first.

I thought about the velcro but was concerned with the warping in case too much humidity got in to the cooler.

Hope this helps!


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## Incognito11 (Jul 18, 2013)

bleslie34 said:


> I used a silicon that is used for fish tanks. A little bit of a smell but it is gone in 48 hours. The main reason for the silicon is that that the SC was only 3/8" thick and fluctuations in the humidity is going to make it warp (potato chip). So by using the silicon i made sure to get the corners stuck down well and then put some resistance against all of the lining at my desired RH for 3 days. Haven't had any issues so far. The only other thing that may help, if you go the silicon route, is if you scuff up the plastic liner of the cooler before adhering the SC strips would probably make it hold better. But I wanted to try without doing that first.
> 
> I thought about the velcro but was concerned with the warping in case too much humidity got in to the cooler.
> 
> Hope this helps!


Awesome thanks alot man! Good to hear of someone having success with the idea i was toying with. Have to give us an update as everything gets settling!


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## Montecristo#4 (May 2, 2011)

Very nice job cant wait to see Whats inside when filled


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## alfred1222 (Oct 20, 2013)

How is Forrest and how do i get in touch with him??


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## Puroprince (Aug 29, 2013)

alfred1222 said:


> How is Forrest and how do i get in touch with him??


Custom Wineador™ Creations - Home


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## rtrimbath (Sep 22, 2013)

Where did you order the cedar from and how much? I'm going with a 181e and figure the specs are close if not the same.


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## rtrimbath (Sep 22, 2013)

rtrimbath said:


> Where did you order the cedar from and how much? I'm going with a 181e and figure the specs are close if not the same.


I just stopped at a local woodworking shop and they had Spanish Cedar, BUT only in 3/4" and they wouldn't machine it for me. I am guessing you can order precut stock online, but I'm not sure where. Any help?


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## bleslie34 (Aug 1, 2013)

I found the sheets on Amazon. It looks like they were shipped from a company called "Quality Wood For Less". The sheets were the following dimensions 1/8'' x 5'' x 48'' and I bought 2 sheets. The widest pre-cut sheets I could find online at 1/8" thickness was 5" wide, so each section that I covered in my cooler is two equal size pieces that meet in the middle. 
You could possibly call the company and custom order the sheets to your specs.

Hope this helps.


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## rtrimbath (Sep 22, 2013)

bleslie34 said:


> I found the sheets on Amazon. It looks like they were shipped from a company called "Quality Wood For Less". The sheets were the following dimensions 1/8'' x 5'' x 48'' and I bought 2 sheets. The widest pre-cut sheets I could find online at 1/8" thickness was 5" wide, so each section that I covered in my cooler is two equal size pieces that meet in the middle.
> You could possibly call the company and custom order the sheets to your specs.
> 
> Hope this helps.


This helped IMMENSLEY!! Thanks for the info. I am thinking of going with the 1/4" thickness instead of 1/8" because it is cheaper for whatever reason. Do you think the thicker stock could cause any problems?


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## rtrimbath (Sep 22, 2013)

Were you able to cut through the 1/8" with a razor or did you still need a saw? Sorry for all the questions. I just really like the work you did and want to duplicate it.


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## bleslie34 (Aug 1, 2013)

Yes I think you will need to use a saw 1/8" was too thick for razor. I used a skil saw and a jig saw to make all my cuts and then sanded down all the edges good after the cuts to smooth out the cuts. No problem with the questions. That is why I posted my build glad I could help.


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## bleslie34 (Aug 1, 2013)

Well I finally got my drawers from Forrest and he did not disappoint. He did a great job and I couldn't be happier. I went with 4 normal style drawers, no pulls, and the vented back. Then I added one shelf. I spent the last week and a half seasoning the drawers with some 84rh Boveda packs and a couple dishes of DW, it is now holding the RH right where I want it. The RH dips down pretty fast when I open it up, mainly due to the drier winter months here in Michigan. It does recover right back to normal 65-68rh in about an hour, so I was very happy to see that. I haven't had to plug in the wineador yet since I keep it in my man space in the basement, temperature stays very consistent around 67-68F. So everything is right where I wanted it.

Just added my sticks in the past couple of days, so I thought I would share my pics. Pretty damn excited!!


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## bleslie34 (Aug 1, 2013)

The two other items I am keeping in the wineador that you can see in the full picture are a 10 pack of Drew Estate "My Uzi Weighs a Ton" and an undressed box of this year's Tatuaje "JV13" Monster series cigars.


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## rtrimbath (Sep 22, 2013)

bleslie34 said:


> I used a silicon that is used for fish tanks. A little bit of a smell but it is gone in 48 hours. The main reason for the silicon is that that the SC was only 3/8" thick and fluctuations in the humidity is going to make it warp (potato chip). So by using the silicon i made sure to get the corners stuck down well and then put some resistance against all of the lining at my desired RH for 3 days.


I went to Lowes and talked to one of the workers about my plans to attach Spanish cedar to the interior of my wine cooler. He suggested Liquid Nails over Silicon. I'm going to go with that route. I'll let you know how it turns out.


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## smitty8202 (Dec 3, 2013)

nice setup. cant wait to build my wineador.


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## Gerace716 (Jan 16, 2014)

Awesome build man!! I'm also going with the wineador after debating that or a cabinet. I'm gonna go with the 28 bottle and similar shelving set up. Thanks for sharing your build and lining it with cedar was a nice touch.


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## rtrimbath (Sep 22, 2013)

Did you or have you had issue with the cedar lining warping? I had everything cut and the boards were flat, but two hours after i glued them down the boards have noticeably warped. I'm not sure if its because of the liquid nails i used or what, but I might have ruined my cooler.


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## rtrimbath (Sep 22, 2013)

Update: Wood is heavily warped, but it looks alright I guess. I don't think the wood is going to come back off anyway, so I will have to get used to it. I still think it was worth it. Thanks for the idea.


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## iatrestman (Jan 22, 2014)

rtrimbath said:


> Update: Wood is heavily warped, but it looks alright I guess. I don't think the wood is going to come back off anyway, so I will have to get used to it. I still think it was worth it. Thanks for the idea.


I would think you would want to season the wood before fixing it into place....


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## rtrimbath (Sep 22, 2013)

Yeah I thought doing it after would be the correct way. I wonder if seasoning beforehand would have made a difference or if the liquid nails was the culprit. Hopefully I'll figure it out before my next build.


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## JCMaduro (Aug 18, 2011)

Love it! The cedar on the top, back and bottom are a nice touch! Decided on the AW-180E also for the same reasons you did! LOL My drawers from Forrest are supposed to be delivered tomorrow. Can't wait! Did you wipe your drawers down with the DW as well as use the Boveda packs for seasoning? It looks like you have about a pound of the beads in there or is it more?


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## DanTheSmoker (Nov 24, 2013)

rtrimbath said:


> Yeah I thought doing it after would be the correct way. I wonder if seasoning beforehand would have made a difference or if the liquid nails was the culprit. Hopefully I'll figure it out before my next build.


I can't tell from the picture but maybe leave a little extra room all the way around. Maybe 1/8 - 1/4 of inch. Wood is wood so it's going to expand and contract with the seasons and the humidity level. Just my opinion. If you did that then I'm not sure what it could have been. It could have been the liquid nails if it was really moist going on. The moisture could have warped it. I personally like PL premium. That stuff holds everything. Don't know if it has an odour though. Good luck


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